Schools

Doubts Surface in Final Recommendation About School Closures

While the school district committee looking at school closures finalized its recommendation to the school board at a meeting on Tuesday, its report states that the reasons for closing a school still haven't been justified.

The San Bruno Park School District committee tasked with making a recommendation about school closures met one last time Tuesday night and tweaked its final recommendation to the school board.

Here are some highlights from the report.

The committee still agreed that closing Crestmoor Elementary would be the least disruptive option and that the entire school, including the school's transfer students, should be moved to either Rollingwood or Portola elementary schools since they have the capacity to hold extra students.

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However, the committee decided that if the school board made a decision to a close a school by May 18—the last day that a decision could be made this school year—then the schools should be consolidated before the fall so that the process isn't delayed any further. If a decision can't be made by May 18, the committee said, then the school board should delay closing a school for a year.

Split decision

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The committee also revealed that there were some discrepancies with the ranking system that was used to determine which school should be most likely considered for closure. At its March 27 meeting, the committee split into two groups to figure out which school should be closed based on a set of criteria. Ultimately, Crestmoor received the highest score when the two group's scores were combined.

Splitting the committee into two groups was done "to minimize any site or personal bias that may have been a factor in the group point awarding," the report said.

However, the two group's scores were quite different, with one group—including representatives from Belle Air, Crestmoor, Parkside and Portola—giving Rollingwood the highest score while the other school representatives ranked Crestmoor the highest.

The split decision about the rankings could show that there wasn't a consensus among the committee members about which school should be closed, if the school board moves forward with making a decision.

'No justification for closing a school'

At the same time, the committee's report challenges the very task they were given: Should a recommendation be made about school closures?

"There is no compelling justification to close any site," the report said. "The committee found little evidence of cost savings or potential revenue."

The report further stated that the school district never said the school closure discussions were prompted by the fact that the district has been facing declining enrollment and inadequate funding from the state, despite that Superintendent David Hutt has cited those reasons.

"In either case, the resulting recommendation is tepid at best and the reuslting rankings are a result of circumstance and no fault of the site or their community," the report said.

Additionally, there was dissent among the committee members about merging two schools. The minority opinion of the report said consolidating Crestmoor and another school should be looked at with caution.

"It's a short-term fix that will eventually be outgrown as the youngest students affected move on to middle school," the report said.

The school the board is expected to hear the committee’s final report at its April 18 meeting at Rollingwood Elementary. A series of public hearings could then be held before a final decision is made by May 18.

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